Connecting device



April 25, 1961 L. MARKOFF-MOGHADAM CONNECTING DEVICE Filed June 10, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VENTOR 15a MWWf-WHMM;

ATTORNEKS CONNECTING DEVICE Filed June 10, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 \iig ATTORNEYS (IONNECTING DEVICE Leo Markofi-Moghadam, 2938 Newark St. NW., Washington, D.C.

This invention relates to a fastening device and more particularly to a wire connector which is'readily adaptable to a multiplicity of uses. This application is a continuation-in-part of my application Serial No. 481,868 filed January 14, 1955 (now Patent No. 2,894,304).

Heretofore, there have been numerous devices disclosed for the purpose of providing connectors for cords and wires .of various sorts. Prior known devices, for the most part, have required a knotting or binding operation which requires a certain degree of manual dexterity and which may be unusually difficult when using cord of exceedingly small .or of very large diameter. Furthermore, generally speaking, such known devices must necessarily be provided in a great number of different sizes to accommodate cords and ropes of a variety of sizes.

The present invention :provides a connector which is simple to utilize and which is of such a construction that a number of sizes of cords or wires may be used with a single connector size.

According to the present invention, a bent wire or a pair of wires is twisted to provide an intermediate enlarged central loop and two spirally wound end portions. The end portions may be twisted so as to provide a tapering twist in which the loops are of a gradually diminishing size, or .the twisted end portions may consist of a plurality of groups of twists of gradually diminishing different sizes, each group comprising a number of twists of the same size, or the twisted end portions may comprise twists .of the same size. A cord may be passed through the enlarged central loop and pulled until it becomes clampingly engaged in one of the twisted end portions. The cord will be tightly retained in this position for, as the cord is pulled away from the connector, the .end portion -will be more tightly gripped by the twisted end portions of the .connector.

One of the primary advantages of the present invention is its adaptability, for the connector may be used with ribbon, string, .rope, cord, wire, thread, or yarn. It is to be understood that in the following detailed description and claims the word cord" as used is intended to cover any of the foregoing materials. By providing a variety of sizes :of twists in the end portion or portions of the connector the same connector may be used with both very heavy cord and with fine thread.

A primary .object .of the present invention is to provide a fastening device readily adaptable to a multiplicity of uses which is extremely simple to operate and which will tightly retain the material with which it is used.

Another object of the present invention is to adapt the fastening device to ,dific'erent specific requirements of the fishing sport and especially to those related to the improved and rapid means of attachment and detachment of various fishing tackle and hooks to the fishing line.

The attendant advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon consideration of the following detailed specification when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein;

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of the connector device rates Patent to and from the fishing line 1.

showing the attachment of a fish hook to the fishing line;

Fig. 2 is a view in elevation of another embodiment of the fastening device showing the attachment of a fish hook to the fishing line;

Fig. 3 is a view in elevation of another embodiment of the fastening device twisted in the shape of a bodkin as used for example for drawing the cord through the mouth of a caught fish;

Fig. 4 is a view in cross-section of the fastening device provided with a weight and forming a sinker rapidly attachable to the fishing line;

Fig. 5 is a view in cross-section of another embodiment of a sinker rapidly attachable to the fishing line;

Fig. 5a is a view in cross-section of another embodiment of a sinker rapidly attachable to the fishing line;

Fig. 6 is a view in elevation of a special form of the invention embodying a circular loop provided with one taper-twisted end portion, where the size of the twists diminishes towards the circular loop;

Fig. 7 is a view in elevation of a similar form with a circular loop provided with a twisted end portion, all the twists of which are of one and the same size;

Fig. 8 is a view in elevation showing the process of attachment to a fishing line of the embodiments of Fig. 6or 7;

Fig. 9 is a view in elevation when attachment to a fishing line has been completed;

Fig. 10 is a view in elevation of the circular loop embodiment with a fastening device made out of insulated wire attached to it, the circular loop being shown as secured to a line and a fish hook clamped in the twisted portion of the fastening device;

Fig. 11 is a view in elevation of the circular loop embodiment with a standard swivel and wire snap attached. to it, the circular loop being shown as secured to a fishing line; and

Fig. 12 is a View in elevation of one form of the invention with a loop twisted in such a manner that the size of the twists on one side of the loop diminishes toward its end, while on the other side of the loop the size of the twists increases toward its end.

Referring now specifically to Fig. 1, there is shown a fastening device made out of wire and having the form of an elongated loop 4, both end portions of which are twisted in such a manner, that the size of the twists diminishes toward the ends of the fastening device. Cords are pulled through the twisted end portions until they are clamped within some of the twists. It is evident that the point at which the cord will be gripped will depend upon the size of the cord, the larger sizes being retained by the larger twists. In this figure, one end of the fastening device is shown attached to a fishing line 1, while its other end clamps a leader 2 to which the fish hook 3 is secured.

Thus, it is possible not only to detach the fish hook 3 from the fishing lineextremely easily and rapidly by pulling its leader 2 out of the lower twisted end portion of the loop 4, and also to regulate at will the place of attachments of the fish hook 3 along the fishing line 1 by means of the upper twisted end portion of the loop 4 which clamps the line 1.

In Fig. 2, there is shown a fastening device made out of Wire and having the form of an elongated loop '5 provided with one twisted end portion which is similar to the end portions of the loop 4 of the Fig. 1 already described above. The leader 2 "of the fish hook 3 is clamped in between the twists of the end portion of the loop 5, and thus is most easily and rapidly attachable and detachable The attachment of the loop 5 to the fishing line 1 is effected by means of the fishermans tie in. Therefore, the fastening device shown on Fig. 2 is appropriate for the use as an attachment to the end of the fishing line, when it is not required to move the fish hook at ease along the latter.

In Fig. 3 there is shown another embodiment of the fastening device similar to that of Fig. 1 but where the loop 4 is flattened, its upper end portion forming a shank 10a which is elongated and provided with many small twists of one and the same size. Its lower end portion 10 is twisted in such a manner that the size of the twists diminishes towards the end of the fastening device. The end portion 10 is the clamping side of the loop provided here with the tapering twist which enables to grip the cords 6 of a variety of sizes. The fastening device of this embodiment is adapted to serve as a bodkin with which a clamped cord or flexible wire can be easily drawn through the mouth of the caught fish without disturbing its gills, and thus keeping it in water on a cord and alive during the process of fishing. It is evident, of course, that the bodkin of Fig. 3 can be conveniently used for many other purposes, for example in the sewing trade.

In Fig. 4 a sinker is shown which is provided with means for its rapid and very easy attachment and detachment to and from a fishing line. Heretofore, the customary sinkers made of lead were either provided with rings or holes and had to be attached by means of binding and knotting to the fishing line. Alternatively, they had a longitudinal cut through which it was necessary to pull the fishing line and then to compress the lead in order to keep the sinker attached to the line. These attachment and detachment operations were rather tedious, required a good deal of time, and often resulted in broken nails and even teeth, especially when pliers were not at hand.

The sinker represented in Fig. 4 eliminates all these troubles. It consists of a skeleton made of wire which passes through an appropriately designed cover of lead (weight) 7 permanently attached to it. The wire skeleton has a twisted shank 10a which at its upper end terminates with a circular ear 8 and at its lower end is provided with a loop 9. The fishing line is drawn through the ear 8 and the loop 9. The sinker thus can be'very firmly attached and very rapidly detached to and from any point along the fishing line 1 by merely locking and unlocking it in or from the clamping portion 10 of the loop 9. I have found that the skeleton of a small and medium size sinker can advantageously be made out of ordinary d=.025"-.03" galvanized wire.

In Fig. is shown another embodiment of a sinker provided with means for its rapid attachment and detachment to and from a fishing line. This is a simplification of the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 4, wherefrom the loop 9 has been eliminated and the shank 10a has been made of a number of twists of one and the same size. The fishing line is drawn through the ear 8 of the sinker and can be very rapidly attached along any point on the fishing line by merely pulling it in between the wire strands of the shank 1011 through the fork-shaped entrance 11. Instant detachment of the sinker is effected by pulling the fishing line out of the wire strands of the shank 10a.

In Fig. 5a is shown a sinker similar to that of Fig. 5, but in which the upper part of the shank 10a has been extended. Instead of the ear 8, a fork-shaped entrance 11a has been provided.

Thus, by pulling the line in between the wire strands of the shank 10a through the fork-shaped entrances 11 and 11a the fishing line is clamped at both ends of the sinker.

Experiments I have performed have demonstrated that the skeleton of a small and medium size sinker shown in Figs. 5 or 5a can be successfully made out of ordinary d=.025".03 galvanized wire, and that the force of friction (clamping) keeping the sinker attached to the fishing line is amply sufficient. Moreover, in order to reduce the production costs, the twists of the shank 10a can be made of one and the same size, becauseon the one hand the thickness of usual fishing lines does not vary substantially,

4 and on the other hand the fishing line cannot slip through the shank 10a toward the ear 8, because it will be stopped by the protruding lead cover 7.

In Fig. 6, there is shown an embodiment having a circular loop (car) 12 provided with a taper-twisted end portion 13, where the size of the twists diminishes toward the loop, that is in the opposite direction to the twists of the fastening device revealed on Fig. 1 and Fig. 2. In stead of circular the loop 12 can be also made of oval or other shape.

in Fig. 7 is shown another embodiment of the circular loop type with the loop (car) 12 provided with a twisted end portion 14 consisting of twists of one and the same size. The purpose of the circular loop (car) 12 is to provide means for rapid and easy attachment of fishing tackle and hooks to any point of the fishing line without making knots and loops in the line proper and avoiding the necessity of drawing the fishing line through the circular loop '12. This is of some importance because it eliminates the pulling of the loop 12 through obstructions on the line when several or many tackle elements and hooks must be attached to one fishing line.

' The securing of the circular loop types to the fishin line or any cord is effected in the manner shown in Fig. 8. The fishing line 1 is pulled through the circular loop (car) 12 into the fork-shaped end 15 of the twisted portion 14. Then the line 1 is pulled 'in between the wire strands of the portion 14 and clamped there as shown in Fig. 9. On account of this clamping of the line 1 and of its turning at two points around the loop 12, the circular loop (ear) 12 becomes very tightly secured to the line 1.

If an extra degree of security is required, or if instead of a fishing line difierent cords of varying thicknesses are used, the circular loop (car) 12 of the type shown in Fig. 6 (this is, with the tapering twist) is preferable.

However, for customary river fishing the circular loop (ear) 12 shown in Figs. 7, 8, and Fig. 9 is fully adequate, and very satisfactory results have already been achieved with this type of loop 12 made out of d=.02"- .03 copper wire. Instead of copper wire the ordinary galvanized wire can be also used.

In Fig. 10 there is shown a combined fastening device consisting of the circular loop (car) 12 with the fastening device 16 attached to it. The structure of the fastening device 16 is similar to the wire loop 5 of Fig. 2,

but in this particular case it is made of wire covered with an insulation of rubber or plastic. The purpose of the insulation is to reduce the shearing stress upon the leader '2, which is advisable when angling for large and heavy fish. Because of the rubber cushioning of the insulation the clamping eflect of the twisted end portion of the loop 16 is naturally reduced in comparison to uninsulated wire, nevertheless very satisfactory results have already been achieved with loops 16 made out of insulated copper wire of the type generally used for ordinary electric bell connections.

In the case of loops 16 made out of insulated wire it has been observed that the leader 2 of the fish book 3 can slowly slip in between the strands of the clamping end portion when it is subjected to pull; but it always becomes tightly secured as soon as the knot 17 of the loop 18 of the leader 2 reaches the twisted end portion a of the loop 16.

As regards the shearing stress exerted by the combined fastening device of Fig. 10 upon the" fishing line 1 through the circular loop (car) 12, it is bound to be considerably smaller than in case of the loop 4 of Fig. 1, when both devices are subjected to a pull of the same magnitude. That is evident even from a cursory examination of the embodiments of Fig. 1 and Fig. 10.

The use of the circular loop type is not, of course, limitedonly to the fastening device shown in Fig. 10. It

can be yery successfully combined with different tackle and hooks already existing on the market. As an example, in Fig. 11 there is shown a combination of the circular loop (ear) 12 with a swivel and a wire snap 21 attached to the loop 12 by means of the split ring 19.

Moreover, the circular loop type .can .be used not only in conjunction with fishing lines, tackles, and hooks, but in conjunction with all other kinds of cords as well.

In Fig. 12 there is shown a loop similar to that of Fig. l but .twisted in such a manner that the size of the twists on one side of the loop 4. diminishes toward its end, while on the other side of the loop 4 the size of the twists increases toward its end, the two wire strands of the last twist forming a fork-shaped entrance ;1 5. This system permits securing the loop 4 at both its ends to the fishing line 1, whereby at one end ,of the loop the fishing line is clamped at the inner side of the twisted end portion, while at the other end it is clamped at the outer side of the twisted end portion; In order to insert the fishing line into the latter, the fishing line 1 is pulled through the fork-shaped entrance 15 in between the two wire strands of the twisted end portion of the loop 4.

The loop of Fig. 12, similarly to the circular loops of Figures 6-11, can be attached to any point of the fish ing line without pulling the whole fishing line through the loop 4. Because of this particular advantage the loop of Fig. 12 can, for example, be successfully used as a sinker, if some weights are attached to the strands of the loop 4.

The loop of Fig. 2, if provided with weights, can also fulfill well the functions of a sinker, especially if the latter has to be attached to the end of the fishing line.

Obviously, many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in the light 'of the above teachings.

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

l. A fishing sinker comprising wire twisted about itself and formed with an eyelet at one end and terminating at the other end as a fork, a sinker element secured about and intermediate of said twisted wire and adjacent said eyelet, the wire strands of said twisted portion extending beyond the sinker element being resiliently biased toward each other and being of constantly increasing amplitude in the direction of the forked end.

2. A fishing sinker comprising wire twisted about itself and formed with an eyelet at one end and terminating at the other end as a fork, a sinker element secured about and intermediate of said twisted wire and adjacent said eyelet, the portion of the twisted wire extending from the end of the sinker opposite the eyelet being formed with a loop adjacent the sinker, the twisted wires between said loop and forked end being resiliently biased toward each other, the twists of said portion being of constantly increasing amplitude in the direction of the forked end.

3. A connector device for connecting fishing tackle elements to a fishing line, comprising a wire strand formed as a loop and then being twisted with itself and extending beyond said loop and terminating in a forked end, the twists being resiliently biased toward each other, and being of constantly diminishing amplitude in the direction of said loop, whereby an intermediate portion of a fishing line may be doubled upon itself, passed through said loop, then over said forked end and drawn in between the twists to be clampingly engaged so as to attach said device to the line, and a fishing tackle element connected to said loop, said tackle element comprising a.

strand of insulated wire forming a loop and then being twisted with itself to form a twisted portion in which the strands of the wire are resiliently biased toward each other, said insulated wire twisted portion forming means for clampingly engaging a fishing leader passed through the insulated wire loop and then drawn between the insulated wire twisted portion.

4. A fastening device of the class described for clamping a cord or the like, comprising a plurality of wire strands interconnected at their ends and forming a relatively large completely closed elongated loop converging at opposite ends in end portions each of a series of relatively small substantially elliptical loops, said end portions each being comprised solely of twisted strands resiliently biased toward each other, the twists of one of said end portions being of constantly diminishing amplitude and the twists of the other end portion being of constantly increasing amplitude and terminating in a forked end, whereby a cord passed through the large loop may be drawn in between the strands of one end portion to be clampingly engaged by the strands of said end portion and another portion of said cord can be drawn into the forked end of the other end portion to [clamp the same.

5. A fishing tackle device for attachment to an intermediate part of a fishing line, comprising, an element, wire strands secured to and extending from said element, said strands being twisted around each other and resiliently biased toward each other except at their free ends where the strands diverge as an open fork, the twists of said strands adjacent said element being inseparable and the remainder of said twists being of a size to receive therebetween and clampingly engage a fishing line introduced between the strands from the forked end.

6. A fishing tackle sinker comprising a pair of wire strands, a sinker element secured about said strands, said strands having at least one portion extending from said sinker element, at least one of said extending portions having the strands twisted around each other and resiliently biased toward each other except at their extreme ends where the strands diverge as an open fork, the twists of said portions opposite from said forked end being inseparable and the remainder of said twists being of a size to receive therebetween and clampingly engage a fishing line introduced between the strands from the forked end.

7. A fishing tackle sinker comprising a pair of wire strands, a sinker element secured about said strands, said strands having at least one portion extending from said sinker element, at least one of said extending portions having the strands twisted around each other and resiliently biased toward each other except at their extreme ends where the strands diverge as an open fork, the twists of said portions opposite from said forked end being inseparable and the remainder of said twists being of increasing amplitude in the direction of said forked end and being of a size to receive therebetween and clampingly engage a fishing line introduced between the strands from the forked end.

8. A fishing tackle sinker comprising a pair of wire strands, a sinker element secured about said strands intermediate their ends, one of the portions of said strands which extends beyond the sinker element having the strands twisted around each other and resiliently biased toward each other except at their extreme ends where the strands diverge as an open fork, the twists of said portions opposite from said forked end being inseparable and the remainder of said twists being of a size to receive therebetween and clampingly engage a fishing line introduced between the strands from the forked end, the other extending portion being formed as an eyelet.

9. A fishing sinker comprising wire twitsed about itself and formed with an eyelet at one end terminating at the other end as an open fork, a sinker element secured about and intermediate of said twisted wire and adjacent said eyelet, the wire strands of said twisted portion extending beyond the sinker element being resiliently biased toward each other and being of constant amplitude in the direction of the forked end, the wire strands adjacent said sinker element being inseparable.

10. A connector device for connecting fishing tackle elements to an intermediate portion of a fishing line, comprising, a wire strand formed as a loop and then being twisted around itself and extending beyond said loop, the twists being resiliently biased toward each other, the twists adjacent the loop being inseparable and the terminal ends of the strands diverging as an open fork, at

least the first twist adjacent the forked end being sufliciently resilient to pass a fishing line, whereby an intermediate portion of a fishing line may be doubled upon itself, passed through said loop, then over said forked end and drawn in between the twists to be clampingly engaged so as to attach said device to the line.

11. A connector device for connecting fishing tackle elements to an intermediate portion of a fishing line, comprising, a wire strand formed as a substantially circular loop and then being twisted around itself and extending beyond said loop, the twists being resiliently biased toward each other, said twists being of diminishing amplitude in the direction of said loop, the twists adjacent the loop being inseparable and the terminal ends of the strands diverging as an open fork, at least the first twist adjacent the forked end being sufiiciently resilient to pass a fishing line, whereby an intermediate portion of a fishing line may be doubled upon itself, passed through said loop, then over said forked end and drawn in between the twists to be clampingly engaged so as to' attach said device to the line.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 97,081 Griswold Nov. 23, 1869 541,120 Root June 18, 1895 769,356 Reis Sept. 6, 1904 1,004,198 Rabbeth Sept. 26, 1911 2,108,598 Burr Feb. 15, 1938 FOREIGN PATENTS 989,859 France May 30, 1951 

